Dinosaurs

Quite a while ago, I talked about how my Grade 6 art class was making dinosaurs (Found here).  Finally, I will post about how they were made and how they turned out.  While it took a while, it was an art project that I would definitely recommend.  The students loved being able to make a type of 'sculpture' and being given the chance to be completely creative.  I would really recommend this project for any grade, however I do think it works best for smaller classes as there are many materials needed.  I even had students from Grades 4, 5, and 7 asking me if they could do that project too.  So, now I am left with the problem of trying to fit in a similar type of project for the other grades :).

Here are the materials and the step-by-step instructions as to how we made them:

Materials:

- Paper bag (1 per student)

- Scrap paper or magazines

- Masking Tape

- Tin Foil (3 sheets per student)

- Plasticine

- Tempera paint

- Toilet paper rolls (2 per student)

- Other odds and ends

Instructions:

1. First, the students were given one paper bag each, along with many scrap pieces of paper and magazines.  The students were then told to crumple up the scrap paper and stuff their paper bags with it.

2. When the paper bags were stuffed, the students were given three sheets of tin foil.  I had the students roll the tin foil pieces together into a thin snake like shape.  This was to be the neck and tail of their dinosaur.

3.  Masking tape was then given for the students to tape their tinfoil to the paper bag.  I had the students tape the end of the paper to the tin foil as well.  (I wish I had a picture of this, but unfortunately I do not.)

4.  Next, the students were given plasticine of the colour of their choice.  They were told to cover their tin foil with the plasticine.

(Example of dinosaurs half covered with plasticine)

(Example of dinosaurs with plasticine finished)

5.  The students were then able to paint the paper bag to match the colour of plasticine they choose.  (This will be the body of the dinosaur.)  They also painted two toilet paper rolls the same colour.  These would be the dinosaurs legs.

6. Once dried, students cut their toilet paper rolls in half and glued them to the bottom of the dinosaur as legs.  (I used a hot glue gun and glued them on myself to make things easier.)

7. For feet, students took plasticine again and put them at the bottom of the toilet paper rolls to help their dinosaur stand.  They also put plasticine between the toilet paper rolls and the body of the dinosaur to make sure they stayed.  

8.  Students were then given a chance to be creative with their dinosaur.  They could use different colours of plasticine, feathers, sequins, googly eyes, etc. to decorate their dinosaur.  

Here are some examples of the end results of the dinosaurs.  I only wished I had taken pictures of more of them - they all turned out so unique!

Dinosaurs - Grade 6

I know this project can seem a bit much, especially if you have a big class.  However, another option is to make it a group project.  They look great to display around the classroom and are definitely worth all the work!  Perhaps even using part of the project could be done - for example making a plasticine snake (Just use tin foil and plasticine!)

Currently I am working on colour schemes with my Grade 5's and 6's.  Be sure to come back for a look at those projects soon!